TO CHEW ON: "Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his legs became weak and his knees were knocking" Daniel 5:5,6.
What is the most mysterious thing you have ever seen?
I’m sure that for King Belshazzar it was the night a body-less hand wrote on his wall.
The night started out as a fun party. To make it special, Belshazzar served wine in the gold goblets brought from the temple in Jerusalem. Everyone was having a great time eating, drinking, talking, laughing, and dancing when from nowhere a hand appeared. When Belshazzar saw it, he stared. How could this be? The longer he watched, the more scared he became. Whose hand was this? The words were in a language he couldn’t read. What did they say? What did they mean?
The queen mother saw how frightened he was. “I know who will be able to read this,” she said. Then she called for Daniel.
Daniel told King Belshazzar that the words were a message from God. Because he hadn’t honored God but had even used the temple goblets for his party, God was planning to give his kingdom to someone else. And that very night it happened. Darius, a rival king from Persia killed Belshazzar and took over the throne of Babylon.
Perhaps you have family and friends who are a lot like Belshazzar in the way they ignore and dishonor God. They don’t read the Bible or pray. Perhaps they even make fun of God and insist that He isn’t real. God is not stumped or stopped by this. He never runs out of ways to get someone’s attention. Trust Him to get through to your loved ones when you can’t.
PRAYER: Dear God, please talk to my friends and family members who don’t know You. Amen.
MORE: Creative Communication
There are many stories in the Bible of God speaking with people in interesting ways. Can you complete the sentences that tell of some of them. Use the word bank below to help fill in the blanks.
1. God gave Joseph a glimpse of his future in a _______. (Genesis 37:5-7)
2. God called Moses from a _________ _________ . (Exodus 3:4)
3. When Balaam went to curse Israel, God caused his _________ to speak. (Numbers 22:27-30)
4. God talked to Elijah in a ________ __________ . (1 Kings 19:12-13)
5. Saul saw a flash of light and heard a _________. (Acts 9:3,4)
6. God talked to Peter in a _________ or vision. (Acts 10:10-13)
dream donkey gentle whisper
trance voice burning bush
ANSWERS
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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Adult readers - DAILY DEVOTIONS FOR ADULTS are available too at Other Food: daily devo's.
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